Portland Trail Blazers center Fabricio Oberto has announced today that he has retired from the game of basketball due to recurrent palpitations related to a prior cardiac condition.

Oberto experienced lightheadedness and dizziness during the first half of Portland’s game at Milwaukee on Nov. 2.

“I made this decision to put my health and my family in front of basketball,” said Oberto. “It was a tough decision to make after playing for so many years, but it was the right one.”

In his sixth season in the NBA, Oberto appeared in each of Portland’s first five games, averaging 1.4 points and 1.4 rebounds in 9.0 minutes.

“We want to thank Fabricio for his professionalism and hard work during his short time here,” said Trail Blazers General Manager Rich Cho. “It’s unfortunate to lose him, but we respect his decision to do what’s best for his health and his family.”

A native of Las Varillas, Argentina, Oberto played four seasons for the San Antonio Spurs (2005-09), winning an NBA Championship as the starting center in 2007, before spending last season with the Washington Wizards.

Oberto, 35, ends his career with NBA averages of 3.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 14.5 minutes in 336 games (128 starts).

A veteran of international play, Oberto was a member of the Argentine National Team that won the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, took home the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won the silver medal at the 2002 FIBA World Championships.

The Trail Blazers roster currently stands at 14 players.

Trail Blazers guard Elliot Williams will undergo surgery to repair a dislocated right patella, the Trail Blazers announced today.

The injury occurred Wednesday, Nov. 3, during court conditioning drills at the team’s Practice Facility. Williams will be re-evaluated after surgery but will likely miss the rest of the regular season.

Portland selected Williams with the 22nd overall pick in the first round of the 2010 NBA Draft. He has not appeared in a game for the Trail Blazers this season.

Williams, 21, posted averages of 17.9 points (45.9% FG, 36.6% 3-PT, 75.8% FT), 4.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.32 steals in 34 games (all starts) as a sophomore at Memphis in 2009-10, earning All-Conference USA First Team and Conference USA Newcomer of the Year honors.

The 6-5, 183-pound guard played his freshman year at Duke in 2008-09, where he averaged 4.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 34 games before transferring to Memphis.

Jerry Zgodda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

Tonight’s 42-point blowout loss set a franchise record, by one point over a 1996 game at Miami (Kevin Garnett’s rookie year) and last November’s unforgettable 146-105 loss at Golden State.

That’s the only Wolves record that fell, although a couple dropped for the Magic.

The 78 first-half points scored was one shy of the 79 the Wolves allowed Phoenix in the first half last March in Phoenix.

But it was the most a Magic team has ever scored in a first half, three more than the 75 they put on Sacramento in January 2009.

Dwight Howard, who got into foul trouble and left the game for a good stretch after just two minutes, set a franchise record for most blocks in a quarter, blocking six in the third.